


A simple misunderstanding

by dasakuryo



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 15:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5972110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasakuryo/pseuds/dasakuryo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Misunderstandings can happen anywhere, at any time. But some are more nerve-wracking and embarrassing than others, especially when they are (yet) far from reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A simple misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> I am really bad at tying stand-alone stories with a show's timeline, so for the sake of this making sense let's just all play pretend and assume this happens sometime when nobody's life is endangered, there's not one single meta-human on the loose and everything is happiness and rainbows :) (except from the part in which Barry and Iris are not together yet). Inspired by a series of conversations on [boniferhasty's tumblr](http://boniferhasty.tumblr.com/)

“Sorry I'm late,” Barry excused himself when he got to their usual table at Jitters, voice quickened up that the words bottled each other out, “I got caught with-”

“Car theft down on Midtown, we've heard,” John cut in, pointing at the security camera footage that Central City News was broadcasting in that very moment, a red streak taking down the robbers in seconds, “reporters are certainly friendlier up here,” he commented smiling knowingly and briefly in Barry's direction, before taking a sip of his _esspresso_.

Barry's eyes narrowed at that, his lips tightened and his jaw set. He made a brief, almost imperceptible, jerking motion with his head to one side, before hunching his shoulders and shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, a shrug following soon afterwards.

“Cut it, John,” Lyla whispered under her breath, but nonetheless Barry was able to hear her. Iris chose that precise moment to appear on his line of sight, beaming at everyone as she placed the orders on the table; Cisco promptly behind her, already slurping loudly at his milkshake.

Sarah thanked the girl with a pat on her arm and that small sudden movement triggered it. The woman's attention instantly diverted to little Sarah, safely cradled between her mother's arms on the woman's chest. As if pulled by the innate sheer force a rush of worry, everyone -including Cisco and Barry himself- quickly approached. It soon became evident for Barry that being skilled at taking down meta-humans and criminals was one thing, but the knowledge required for such a mundane, simple problem eluded him. He just stood there, staring as if paralysed at the scene before him, no clue as to what or how he could help to stop Sarah's sudden anxiety. And judging by the way Cisco was ranting under his breath, as he waved his hands frantically towards the little girl to then withdraw them with a quick flourish, he had no clue either.

The little girl was stirring with increasing speed in her movements, and what had started with a small arm movement soon turned into frantic, nervous. A whimper escaped from her lips, her tiny hands clenched into fists and she squeezed her eyes shut, clearly upset by the sun bright light.

Lyla shushed her, rocking her back and forth at the same time, but the whimpers started to break into more acute, longer noises, as if little Sarah was on the verge of bursting out crying. Her face contorted, completely ignorant of her mother's efforts of cradling her back to sleep. John spoke calming words with a soft voice; no effect did the caress of his thumb brushing on her arm and hand have either.

Brief but acute sobs soon followed. It wasn't until Iris herself started making shushing and cooing sounds, towering from above the woman's shoulder, that Sarah stopped turning. Her dark brown eyes suddenly fixed on Iris' face. She bobbed her head clumsily and, amazed, her lips rounded in a perfect o shape. And just like that, the sobs turned into gurgles that, at least for Barry, resembled giggles pretty neatly.

Iris awed, and smiled broadly at Sarah, who actually giggled in turn and lifted her little arms upwards, little fingers waving quickly as if she was trying to reach the woman and touch her. Iris could only smile at that, and Barry could only smile at the scene displaying now before him. Whether his muscles had softened enough for him to be pulling a stupid enthralling face at the sight right there in front of John Diggle or not, he didn't care -giving second-hand ammo to Oliver for future teasing had, right then and there, become a superfluous issue.

Suddenly, Iris looked up and met his gaze.

“Oh, Bar, I totally forgot to get something extra for you,” her tone struck him as troubled.

“Don't worry, I can just go-” he argued but Iris was already standing upright when he spoke.

The effect this mere change had on Sarah was automatic, her limps trembled and a laboured cry escaped from her lips. Lyla, Diggle and Iris' faces contorted again, concern evident. Diggle rose to his feet when Iris started to hum softly to Sarah. The girl slowly calmed down.

“I'll go, I need another coffee anyway,” he offered, “do you want anything?” he then turned to Lyla, who shook her head.

“Yes, but I'll go with you... Something tells me that I can leave Sarah in very good hands until we get back,” she added, and her voice took on a warming tone as she glanced at Iris.

The woman in question stared at her, agape, fumbling for words.

“No... I couldn't possibly...” she hesitated, speaking erratically, her voice suddenly faltering.

“Sarah seems to think otherwise, right sweetheart?” Lyla asked her daughter, who at that moment was too engrossed with Iris pink sweater, clutching it tentatively, to even acknowledge someone had mentioned her name.

With ease, Lyla arranged the knitted woollen blanket around the girl. She rose to her feet and gently handed her to Iris, her arms safely cradling Sarah against her chest. Far from being troubled by the sudden separation from her mother, Barry noted, the baby turned and jostle around until she stopped and giggled -presumably, having found the most comfortable position. Lyla gave Sarah a small plushed rabbit, which the the girl was quickly to grab possessively. The woman pressed a kiss to the girl's forehead and before she walked away, Sarah had already forgotten about the bunny and was trying to get hold of Iris shiny necklace pendant.

“I'm getting _you_ something, before you pass out,” Barry barely acknowledged Cisco rambling voice. His friend turned on his spot and walked away, right behind the couple.

Barry watched them, watched how Iris dreadful fear and worry soon washed away as Sarah kept being her giggling self as she rocked her, all smiles each time she looked up met the young woman's face. Any remaining shade of worry disappeared when Sarah wrapped her hand around her thumb and index finger.

Barry had to bit his lips to keep himself from chuckling softly, especially after Iris giggled and gazed at him briefly, eyebrows raised, an unspoken amazed question. He nodded in turn.

His mind went back to the date printed on that newspaper. His heart throbbed at remembering the black letters that read Iris West-Allen. He couldn't help but wonder if that was still going to happen, if everything that had been set in motion the past months hadn't reshaped and changed the timeline in which, eventually, Iris last-name was attached to his. He couldn't help but wonder if they were still going to be together -because he loved her, madly, that would always be true as long as his heart was beating, he was absolutely certain of it.

What crisis may have caused his vanishing on 2024? What could possibly make him leave her? What would drive him away from Iris? Because if The Flash would disappear in the future, then he'd too.

His train of thought was cut short by a whimper and Iris sudden gasp. Sarah's bunny plush toy had fallen to the floor. Barry knelt down and picked it up. But instead of placing it on Iris palm, he approached. Sarah's eyes widened when she saw a new face towering above her, but tittered when seconds after she saw her small rabbit moving from right to left before her eyes. Her hands flung upwards and clutched it.

“Aw, look who's back!” the girl stared at her, wide eyed, as she sucked at one of the very torn plush ears, her eyes scanned her surroundings again and she giggled against the toy when she met his eyes again.

Barry chuckled when Sarah grabbed the rabbit and, clumsily, placed on top of her eyes, as if she was trying to hide from him. If anyone later asked him what had possessed him to do what he did, he wouldn't know what to answer except that the little girl's joy was contagious. Barry's hand moved forward, grabbed the toy and pulled it up and away from atop the little girl's face.

“Got you Sarah!” why did his voice go up _several octaves_ , he didn't know. The girl made a short sound, somehow between a coo and a gurgle, before burying her face in the crook of Iris elbow. Barry chuckled at the girl's reaction, and it took him an instant to realise that Iris was laughing along.

“That little family of yours is certainly adorable,” an assuring voice broke the joyful trance he was immersed into.

He turned to the sound and met the gaze of a middle-aged woman, probably in his fifties, who was looking at the three of them with a broad warm smile spread across her face. He froze and nearly choked with his own breathing; or he choked with his own breathing and then he froze, he wasn't sure of the actual order when embarrassment took over him.

He tried to speak and correct the woman's mistake, wanted to say that Sarah was Lyla and John's baby, that this was a misunderstanding and that Iris and he weren't together and most certainly _hadn't had a baby._ But all he could do was stammer.

 

* * *

 

“We should-”

“Don't you dare,” John cut her off before she could even finish the suggestion, “just look at them.”

Beside him, Lyla huffed and shoot him a disapproving glare, “precisely, John! It's almost painful to watch, look at the poor girl's face!”

Diggle smile only broadened.

“I'm more interested in Allen's flailing, look at him, is hilarious-”he trailed off for a moment before letting out a low amused chuckle, “this is gold, just wait until Oliver hears about it... he's going to love this,” the man confided, folding his arms on his chest and laughing under his breath.

Lyla frowned. Barry Allen must be certainly contemplating just rushing to grab them both back to the table, if it weren't for the fact that The Flash had a secret identity to keep. He could heal really fast, did that also meant that if he'd turned red none of them would have been able to took notice? For a brief second they linked eyes, and the desperate plea on his face made her heart throb out of guilt.

“You can't be serious,” she whispered disbelievingly, grabbing the cups of coffee and starting to make her way towards the table to pull those two out of their misery. But before she could take more than two steps, John grabbed her arm. She looked at him sternly, at which he tilted his head and shoot her a knowing smile.

“One more minute. Tops,” she grunted, “I can't believe you and Oliver enjoy doing things like this to him,” her tone was utterly disapproving.

“If it helps and pushes both of them into each other's arms it'd be worth it,” Lyla raised an eyebrow at him, “Felicity's words, not mine. Let's enjoy the moment while it lasts, then we'll have a cool anecdote to tell their children and laugh at their expense.”

“I'm in,” Cisco voted in John's favour, “but fyi, the position of Cool Uncle is already booked in advance,” he added, pointing to himself with a very serious look on his face.

Diggle's eyes narrowed at that, “who says so?” he challenged him, “why not Oliver? Why not _us_? Sarah is going to be their _favourite_ cousin, after all.”

“I'm the one with Force powers,” Cisco shrugged, matter-of-factly.

Lyla would have loved to chime in to remind them both they were discussing things too ahead of time. But neither of them acknowledged her cough, so she just rolled her eyes and glanced at the watch.

 

* * *

 

“I'm so sorry for earlier,” an affected voice interrupted their chatting.

The same woman from earlier had approached to their table again, judging by the paper bag she was clutching between her fingers, clearly on her way out of the café. Both Iris and Lyla reassured the woman that no harm had been done and it had been just an innocent misunderstanding. The woman bowed her head slightly at their words, in clear agreement. However, her inquisitive gaze fell on Iris and Barry and she nodded. Both exchanged puzzled faces.

“Misunderstanding or not,” she said, gravely, a smile curling up her lips, “I'm sure you too are going to a have a lovely beautiful family one day.”

 


End file.
